The Estate Library holds many wonders, including what is without doubt one of the core texts of what is called the urban fantasy genre — the Life On The Border anthology, along with its sister anthologies, Bordertown and Borderland. Of the three, the Life On The Border anthology is the one most sought after by fans of the series.
I’m reprinting this review here on Sleeping Hedgehog, as this series is arguably the first one to use Rock and Roll with more than a dash of Punk as its taproot motifs. It has been slightly revised from the Green Man Review version.
When Michael Jones did an omnibus overview of the entire Bordertown series, he said of this anthology that “Life on the Border turns the volume to 11, cranking up the energy and enthusiasm as the authors really hit their groove. It’s like the song right before intermission, when the music’s clearly gotten into the blood, and everyone’s dancing.” It is also, and this is why I’m looking at it here, definitely one of the core texts of modern YA urban fantasy. Anyone who’s read deeply in the genre over the past decade will see that once they’ve read this anthology!
Our copy of Life On The Border is apparently a rare thing indeed. A copy that was originally a mere five U.S. dollars will cost you, provided you can find it, somewhere between thirty and sixty U.S dollars on the ‘Net! (Bordertown and Borderland are substantially less costly, befitting their less sought after status.) It wasn’t until I heard two staffers in the Pub discussing it with quite some enthusiasm that I borrowed our copy and sat down late one night to read it.
Wow. The framing material alone is well worth your reading. As Michael noted in his review, “Ellen Kushner contributes ‘Lost in the Mail I-IX,’ a story split into nine parts, scattered between the rest of the stories in the collection, and written in the form of a series of letters sent home by a young runaway, who experiences the glory and despair that best represents Bordertown.” Terri would later expand this concept in The Essential Bordertown anthology, which had more B-Town, as the fans call the series, stories and expanded sections devoted to the new arrival in B-Town.
Oh, but the tropes of later YA urban fantasy are all here. Elves and mortals wearing really cool clothes and neat hair? Oh, yes. More than a touch of violence and blood spilled? Of course. Sleek motorcycles? Damn right. Music clubs with cheap beer and loud rock ‘n’ roll? More than you can shake a stick at. Magic — for good and for evil? Very much so. Oh, and not a parent in sight to say “NO!” As a Librarian, I’ve seen or read about literally thousands of books in the YA genre that used most of these tropes. Hell, Will Shetterly gives us “Nevernever” in which he tells us about Wolfboy, Bordertown’s only full-time half-man half-wolf. Yes, a werewolf! About the only trope that infests, and I really mean it that way, later YA urban fantasy that is not here is vampires.
So if you are interested in how much of modern YA urban fantasy came to be, do read this anthology along with the other anthologies. I certainly will now read everything set in the B-Town universe, including the novels that Emma Bull and Will Shetterly wrote.
(Tor, 1991)
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